Ellie Goulding is expecting her first baby with husband Caspar Jopling

Speaking to Vogue UK, she revealed: "Becoming pregnant kind of made me feel human. I want a better word than womanly, [but] - I have curves I’ve never had before. I’m enjoying it. My husband’s enjoying it."

Discussing how the pregnancy has gone in lockdown - which she and Caspar have spent at their home in Gloucestershire, England - she added: "You have your partner, and you have your friends, but in a pandemic, it can feel particularly lonely.

"Because it wasn’t something I had planned for right now, [and] I knew it was a more solitary journey because of what’s going on. I think that made me keep it very secretive and made me very protective over it. The sickness and tiredness was nothing I’d ever experienced before. I feel like it’s a taboo to talk about pregnancy as being challenging. It’s not always serene and like you’re not always glowing. I’m not saying that every second of this pregnancy has been miserable. It’s not always going to be easy. I have a newfound respect for any woman who has children.”

Ellie has been able to keep the pregnancy a secret because she and her art dealer spouse have been following the lockdown rules and "not seen anyone", and she admits that having a baby was not in her plans when she found out she was expecting.

Discussing her last public appearance at the V&A Museum in London in August 2020, she said: "We did the one show. I was pregnant and had no idea.

“That was [around] the time when Caspar and I went away briefly when we were allowed to for our one-year anniversary, and that’s basically when we found out. It was crazy because it was our one-year anniversary. That was not the plan. The thought of getting pregnant didn’t seem like it could be a reality."

Ellie - whose wellness book 'Fitter. Calmer. Stronger.' is released in September - and Caspar know the sex of their child but they are keeping it to themselves until they welcome their baby into the world.

The 'Starry Eyed' hitmaker shared: "We found out by default because we had a scan. [But,] it wasn’t a thing. We just wanted a healthy baby and there wasn’t much more to it. Instinctively, the whole gender reveal is not my thing.”